Infectious Disease Puscast #70: A Bi-Weekly Review of Key Literature
0:49 Dengue Fever Trends: The epidemiology of dengue in Puerto Rico from 2010-2024 reveals a shift in dominant serotypes and a significant increase in hospitalization rates, rising from 35.7% to 53.5%.
4:47 Dengue Vaccine Update: Denvaxia, the only US FDA-approved dengue vaccine, is being discontinued due to low demand. Another vaccine, Qdenga, is available internationally but not in the US.
7:16 Chikungunya's Global Impact: A study estimates the global health and economic burden of chikungunya from 2011-2020, revealing 18.7 million cases and a substantial economic impact, largely due to chronic illness.
11:13 Procalcitonin's Role in Sepsis: The Adapt Sepsis Trial suggests that daily procalcitonin-guided protocols can reduce antibiotic duration in hospitalized sepsis patients, but with mixed results on all-cause mortality at 28 days. There was no difference at 90 days.
17:58 Combating Stenotrophomonas Maltophilia: A "nudge comment" in microbiology reports significantly reduced unnecessary treatment of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia respiratory colonization without impacting patient outcomes.
20:37 UTI Guidelines: A Wiki guidelines group provides consensus statements on the prevention, diagnosis, and management of urinary tract infections, offering clear recommendations for specific scenarios.
23:07 De-escalating Antibiotics in Sepsis: A retrospective study found that antibiotics were de-escalated in only 29.5% of suspected sepsis cases, despite the absence of resistant organisms, suggesting an opportunity to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use.
25:07 Treating MDR Pseudomonas aeruginosa: The CACTUS study suggests that ceftolozane-tazobactam may be more effective than ceftazidime-avibactam for treating MDR Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections, particularly pneumonia.
28:38 Bedaquiline for Leprosy: A proof-of-concept study indicates that bedaquiline monotherapy for 8 weeks followed by standard multi-drug therapy may be a promising treatment for multibacillary leprosy.
33:07 Histoplasmosis and Cannabis: Two fatal cases of histoplasmosis in cannabis growers were linked to bat guano exposure, highlighting the risks associated with contaminated fertilizers.
34:11 Parasitic Nematodes' Viruses: Research shows that parasitic nematodes harbor diverse RNA viruses that can elicit antibody responses in vertebrate hosts, potentially contributing to disease pathology.
35:39 Neurocysticercosis Outbreak: A neurocysticercosis outbreak in a Belgian school, involving nine boys, was traced back to a likely single exposure event, emphasizing the importance of hand hygiene.
39:14 Maintenance of Certification: An opinion piece questions the necessity of knowledge-based assessments for maintaining ID certification, suggesting that current processes may not accurately reflect physician competence.
40:35 Disney Princesses' Health Risks: A BMJ Christmas article humorously explores the potential health hazards faced by Disney princesses, including zoonotic infections from their animal companions.
42:13 Support MicrobeTV: The hosts encourage listeners to support MicrobeTV's science podcasts through donations.